The New Suspension Fits!

This is by far the riskiest thing I have ever attempted on a car.  The tension level has been high.  But, it seems to be finally coming together!  I have nothing clever to say in this post.  No analogy to try to weave through it.  I'll just comment on the pictures, as I relive the pain in the abs that comes from doing crunches under a 53 year old car in a welding helmet, praying that when the arc from the MIG welder strikes, you'll still be able to see the puddle around the frame rail, jack stand, exhaust pipe, and fender that you carefully positioned yourself within.  If not, turn off the welder, roll out from under the car, stretch, eat a pretzel, put the helmet back on, and roll back under!  Repeat, roughly 100 times per day or until you shake so badly you can't strike an arc anymore!  That was for the tack welds, to hold things in place for removal.  The welding outside the car was far easier.  Although, I did quite badly at both.  Welding may be for me like brewing beer...I love it but I suck at it, so I leave it those who were born to do it!  I do think these will hold up (we'll see when we can finally autocross!) but my welding work will never feature in a text book!

This is the first time I got both halves of the suspension and the differential in position under BB.  Notice, it took two jacks, two tie downs (thank you for getting Kara to Chicago, tie downs!), and two wire ties (not visible here) to get it all in place.

 One of the more difficult jobs was making the template for the rear sub-frame cross member, which included the bolt holes for the differential.  Perhaps I should have made the cardboard template before hoisting the 50lb differential up under BB!  That kind of thing is why I'm passing this on!

Here, you can see a piece of deck railing ("Fixed the newell post!") holding up the front of the differential.

 Here's the welder and gloves after fatigue set in.

The tack welded sub-assembly coming out of BB.

 Now the tack welded assembly is out from under the car!  I had an emotional moment when lowering the jack.  About 2/3's of the way down, the jack kept going and the suspension stopped moving!  Investigation showed that the front steel tubing was a closer fit than I imagined and had become wedged in the unibody frame rails.  I had to use a hammer to knock them out.  At that point, I realized that, while the visual quality of my tack welds was awful, they were holding water!  Actually, the whole suspension was cantilevered off the two front rails.  I was terrified and impressed with myself at the same time!

 Proof that I selected the right coil overs (phew!).

 A weld that is just less than nauseating!

The suspension midway through the welding process.

 Reinforcing the frame rail that I had to open up to fit in the upper A-arm.

The suspension welded and ready to re-install.

 Some black paint applied to spots that will be impossible to reach later.

Making this picture the largest size since it's the first time BB has had the correct ride height since I've partnered with her.  I've no idea what was with the leaf springs she had, but they were two inches too high even with a one inch lowering kit.  This will help reduce the center of mass for auto crossing but, unfortunately, it also reduces the roll center.  At least I'll have an anti-sway bar (topic for a future post!) and adjustable shocks, which may help.  Some tuning will be in order.

I include this just because there are few MGB's who look like this from below, just like Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang!  Stay safe and have #funwithcars !